Growing our infrastructure will grow Iowa

Infrastructure has long been the backbone to the American economy. Many point to the interstate highway system, but there’s another critical piece of American infrastructure that is too often ignored: the 2.5 million miles of pipelines across the United States. That infrastructure helps deliver energy to industries and consumers.

Growing infrastructure, particularly here in Iowa and across the Midwest is a critical need. And new pipeline infrastructure projects are vital, especially in Iowa.

The energy industry has dramatically grown here in the Midwest, particularly in the Bakken area of North Dakota, creating new opportunities for jobs and reducing our reliance on foreign energy needs.

However, the boom in production has surpassed our existing infrastructure systems. While energy production has soared in the Bakken, crude oil has moved primarily by railroad. As result, it has become increasingly difficult to move products and commodities to market — especially hampering farmers trying to ship their grain.

What’s needed, instead, is new, state of the art infrastructure to move Bakken crude. Railroad shipments of crude oil have increased 4,000 percent since 2008, while numerous new pipeline projects have been proposed. Such projects would help alleviate rail car needs while also creating an economic boom during construction, particularly for construction jobs, and provide long-term benefits in the form of safer transport of crude oil and cheaper domestic energy.

The recently announced Dakota Access Pipeline is just one example. That pipeline project, which would carry 450,000 barrels of crude each day, would free up more than 450 rail cars in the Midwest each day. And it would create some 4,000 well-paying construction jobs with benefits and over $1.3 billion in spending here in Iowa alone.

Iowa lands right in the middle of the proposed route of the project, starting in Lyon County and crossing the state before exiting in Lee County. It would connect shale regions in North Dakota to manufacturers, utilities and more along the route, matching American energy supply to American energy demand.

The project will be a boon to American manufacturing. Some 57 percent of the pipeline, including pump stations, will be bought and assembled in the United States. And creating more supply of American energy will help manufacturing across the Midwest.

As the number one consumer of oil in the world, the United States must make every attempt to improve national energy independence. The Dakota Access Pipeline project will allow 450,000 barrels of domestically produced sweet crude oil to be shipped to major U.S. markets every day, with the possibility of expanding up to 570,000 barrels per day. Every barrel of oil we produce displaces a barrel of foreign oil, and the pipeline will help close the gap between production and imports each year.

It’s important that the public understand that pipelines are not just in our economic interest, but they are also in the interest of safety. Pipelines are the safest means of transporting energy, including crude oil.

The proposed Dakota Access Pipeline will be built by trained and skilled union craftsmen; built to the highest standards of safety and quality. And with production in the Bakken booming, the opportunity is now.

Newly proposed infrastructure projects aren’t just good for labor. They’re good for agriculture, manufacturing, construction, our economy, and Iowa as a whole.

We support growing our energy infrastructure through state of the art pipeline projects because we support growing Iowa’s economy responsibly.